Skim board



M. A. POWERS Dec. 2, 1969 SKIM BOARD Filed July 13, 1967 INVENTOR Mil/0n A Pawers MWMfiMW ATTORNEYS United States- Patent 3,481,619 SKIM BOARD Milton A. Powers,, Box 157, Canfield, Ohio 44406 Filed July 13, 1967, Ser. No. 653,077 Int. Cl. 1362b 17/00; B62m 29/00 US. Cl. 280-12 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A skim board comprises a circular or oval central platform portion of plywood or the like having a flexible edge consisting of a strip of rubber or the like mounted with a tongue and recess fit upon the plywood periphery and bonded thereto by water proof adhesive. The strip may be solid or hollow, and its lower surface inclines upwardly and outwardly with respect to the lower plywood surface.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF INVENTION Skim boards for sliding on wet beach sand consisting of plywood platforms are known. A user runs along the beach, throws the board upon the wet sand in front of him and jumps aboard, either upright on his chest. The board with the rider aboard now glides swiftly over the sand under the momentum imparted by the rider for a considerable distance. There has been objection to usage of these boards on crowded beaches because the rider usually has poor or no control of direction and speed of the moving board and often crashes into people, causing leg and other injuries. The invention provides a flexible edged skim board usually a plywood platform having a rubber strip around its edge that minimizes such injury, and this is the major object of the invention. Other and more detailed objects of the invention relate to upwardly and outwardly inclined lower surface of the resilient strip and other structure as will appear in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a top plan view showing a skim board according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged section substantially on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 showing the flexible edge in structural detail; and

FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 are sections similar to FIGURE 2 but showing other flexible edge structures.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Usually the central portion of the board is made by sawing out a circular piece of plywood of suitable thickness, and then shaping the periphery for mounting a strip of the flexible edging material. In the board shown in FIGURE 2, the central portion is cut along both the upper and lower peripheral edges to form annular grooves 14 and 15 and thereby provide an annular projecting tongue 16 all around the periphery. Upper and lower surfaces 17 and 18 are preferably parallel.

The flexible edge is preferably an extruded strip of synthetic rubber or the like of special shape in cross-section as shown in FIGURE 2. The inner edge of the strip 13 is recessed at 19 to fit snugly onto the tongue 16, and the tongue and groove surfaces are bonded by a Water proof adhesive to the contacting rubber surfaces of strip 13. Thus a strip 13 of suitable length is fitted onto tongue "ice 16 and grooves 14, 15 and its opposite ends meet substantially in a line at 21 in FIGURE 1.

In some forms of the invention the flexible edging may be an integral molded strip of rubber elastically assembled over the grooved periphery of the center section, which would eliminate the joint at 21.

As shown in FIGURE 2 the lower surface of the strip 13 comprises a short flat section 22 which is essentially a continuation of the flat under surface 18 of the plywood central portion of the board and section 22 gradually and smoothly merges over an arcuate transition surface section at 23 to an upwardly inclined surface section at 24. This inclined surface, as the board travels along the wet sand, provides a lift action which increases the speed and distance of travel. At the upper part of strip 13, the upper surface section 25 is preferably a flat coplanar extension of upper surface 17 of the plywood. The upper and lower surfaces of the strip 13 merge together smoothly in a bluntly curved annular tip section indicated at 26. Usually the extruded strip has a hollow portion 27 for increased flexibility.

Where the board is formed of plywood about thick, the strip 13 is about an inch wide and the angle of surface section 24 is usually about 20 with surface 18. This value of the angle is not particularly critical, the essential requirement being that the angle be noticeably and effectively acute upwardly and outwardly from the horizontal so that the strip edge does not dig into the wet sand.

In use the board is usually polished on surface 18, or provided with a hard abrasive resistant smooth coating 28 of paint, varnish or a suitable plastic. The upper surface 17 may be coated with a substance that is adherent to the human skin.

FIGURE 3 illustrates another form of skim board wherein the central plywood portion 30 having parallel flat upper and lower surfaces 31 and 32 and formed with annular lower edge groove 33 all around the periphery. The flexible strip 34 is here formed with a recess 35 interfitting with the plywood board edge so that an upper rim 36 overlies surface 31 and a lower rim 37 extends within groove 33. The contacting surfaces of the plywood and strip are bonded together with a waterproof adhesive.

The lower surface of strip 34 comprises a straight flat annular section 38 flush with surface 32, a smoothly curved transition section 38', an upwardly inclined section 39 and a rounded tip at 39' that merges with the upper surface.

FIGURE 4 illustrates another form of skim board wherein the central plywood portion 40 has flat parallel upper and lower surfaces 41 and 42 and is formed with an annular groove 43 all around its periphery. Flexible rubber strip 44 is recessed on its inner side at 45 and 46 to form a tongue 47 extending into groove 41 and an upper rim 48 overlying surface 41. The abutting surfaces of the plywood and rubber strip are bonded together by a water proof adhesive.

The lower surface of strip 44 comprises a flat annular section 48 flush with surface 42, a smoothly curved annular transition section 49, an annular inclined section 51 and a rounded tip 52 that merges smoothly into the upper surface.

FIGURE 5 illustrates a further embodiment wherein the plywood central portion 40 is formed with annular peripheral groove 43 as in FIGURE 4 but a different section strip 53 is secured therearound. Strip 53 is essentially a hollow circular bead 52, and on its inner side a tongue 53 projects into recess 43 and an upper rim 54 overlies surface 41. The lower surface of the strip comprises an annular flat section 55 flush with plywood surface 42, a smoothly curved annular transition section 56 merging into the outer surface of bead 52 which serves both as the upwardly and outwardly inclined strip surface and the rounded tip for the strip.

Instead of being circular the plywood platform may be oval or any suitable shape having mainly rounded edges. The inclined lift surfaces, such as that at 24, may be essentially straight or slightly curved with the convex side down.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A skim board comprising a relatively rigid platform having a bottom gliding surface, and flexible edging for said board comprising a strip of relatively resilient material extending along the peripheral edge of said platform, the inner side of said strip having a securing tongue and groove interfit with the periphery of said platform, said strip having an annular lower surface that is initially substantially flush with said gliding surface of said platform and extends upwardly and outwardly at an acute angle to said gliding surface.

2. The skim board defined in claim 1, wherein said 4 strip is an extruded length of rubber or the like of constant cross-section bonded by adhesive around the platform.

3. The skim board defined in claim 1, wherein said lower surface is formed with an annular lift section extending upwardly and outwardly with respect to said gliding surface and terminates in a rounded outer edge tip.

4. The skim board defined in claim 3, wherein said lift section extends at about 20 relative to said gliding sur face.

5. The skim board defined in claim 1, said strip having an upper surface which is substantially flush with the top surface of said platform, the upper and lower strip surfaces merging together smoothly in a curved annular tip section.

6. The skim board defined in claim 5, said strip having an annular hollow portion for increasing flexibility thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,601,991 7/1952 Kahle 28019 3,176,999 4/1965 Atcherley 28018 1,023,601 4/1912 Simpson 93 10 2,615,495 10/1952 Hilliker 280-12 LEO FRIAGLIA, Primary Examiner ROBERT R. SONG, Assistant Examiner 

